Kavli awards go to perception researchers and Pluto killers

This morning, in conjunction with the start of New York's World Science Festival, the Kavli Foundation announced the winners of its third set of awards, honoring research in three fields: nanoscience, astrophysics, and neurobiology. THe three fields have a few things in common: they often involve research that crosses traditional boundaries between disciplines, they've all seen impressive progress in recent years, and they don't fit neatly into the subject areas honored by the Nobel Prizes.

The neuroscience prize was a bit of a grab-bag, united under the umbrella of perception. Cori Bargmann of Rockefeller University was honored for her work with C. elegans, a small worm that enables researchers to do both complex genetic experiments and track the fate of every single cell. Bargmann helped identify the neural circuits that lets the worm respond to changes in its environment. Ann Graybill was cited for her work with primates, where she helped identify the circuits involved in learning habits.

Winfried Denk is the odd one out, in that he's cited for developing techniques. One is a form of electron microscopy that gave an unprecedented view of the wiring of the brain. The second, called multi-photon microscopy, lets scientists image live cells by turning some of the molecules they normally contain into convenient fluorescent labels.

For nanotechnology, the award went to MIT's Mildred Dresselhaus, who has helped characterize phonons, the quantum version of vibrations in solid materials.

The award in astrophysics recognized the first identification of Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs), which orbit beyond Neptune and are likely to preserve the sorts of materials that went into building our solar system. David Jewitt and Jane Luu built a camera specifically designed to detect these objects, finding the first of them in 1992. Brown, who goes by @plutokiller on Twitter, led the project that discovered Quaoar, Makemake, Eris, and Sedna. These are KBOs that, in some cases, were larger than Pluto. This set off a debate that eventually led to the establishment of the class of objects known as Dwarf Planets, which now includes Pluto.

David Jewitt and Jane Luu built a camera specifically designed to detect these objects, finding the first of them in 1992. Brown, who goes by @plutokiller on Twitter, led the project that discovered Quaoar, Makemake, Eris, and Sedna. These are KBOs that, in some cases, were larger than Pluto. This set off a debate that eventually led to the establishment of the class of objects known as Dwarf Planets, which now includes Pluto.

David Jewitt and Jane Luu built a camera specifically designed to detect these objects, finding the first of them in 1992. Brown, who goes by @plutokiller on Twitter, led the project that discovered Quaoar, Makemake, Eris, and Sedna. These are KBOs that, in some cases, were larger than Pluto. This set off a debate that eventually led to the establishment of the class of objects known as Dwarf Planets, which now includes Pluto.

PLUTO IS A PLANET !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Forever.

Well, yes. Dwarf planet is a subtype of planet. You don't hear anyone claiming a dwarf human isn't a human.